Cambridgeshire

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Policing Peterborough

| Overview | Liberty Quarter Sessions | Before 1857 | Liberty Police | City Police | Combined Police | History written 1979 | Improvement Commissioners | Chief Officers | Premises | What's Missing? | Notes and Queries |

The History of the Police in Peterborough

(this history was published by the Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1979 in a booklet covering the opening of the Thorpe Wood Divisional Headquarters)

Police in Peterborough before 1857

Before the institution of municipal and county councils, the Justices in Quarter Sessions were responsible for the administration of their areas.

There is little record of the means of policing which were in force at that time, but there were undoubtedly a number of Parish Constables.

In 1781 the local citizens formed an association for the prosecution of all persons guilty of felony, with particular mention of horse stealing and there is a record of this organisation holding its Annual Meeting at the Bull in Westgate in 1816. The yearly subscription to the association was 3/6d. and the association was prepared to advertise losses and give rewards for information leading to the detection of crime. Later, in 1832, the "Hundred of Norman Cross and Liberty of Peterborough Association for the Protection of Property" was formed. The annual subscription to this organisation was 5/ -.

Another person who had a quasi-police role at this time was the Beadle. He is described as a most important person whose main duty apparently was to see the tramps out of the town. He was paid by results and presented Justices at Quarter Sessions with a bill showing the number of vagrants he had shown out of the City. The magistrates then made him an allowance according to the services rendered. He was provided with a rather resplendent uniform consisting of a long robe, knee breeches and a cocked hat in addition to the mace.

After the Metropolitan Police was formed in 1829 many criminals left the metropolis to carry on their trade in the provinces. This led to even more general lawlessness throughout the country. The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 and the County Police Act of 1839 made it possible for municipal boroughs and county justices to appoint paid police for their areas modelled upon the Metropolitan example.

The Justices of the County of Northamptonshire took advantage of this and established their own Force for the county, but the Liberty Justices, like many others, did not, probably because the need in this particular area was not so dire as elsewhere.

The Liberty of Peterborough Constabulary (1857-1874)

In 1856 the County and Borough Police Act left local justices with little choice but to establish a proper Police Force for their area. On 10th March 1857 the Justices in Quarter Session approved a "Book of Rules and Regulations for the Government and Guidance of the Peterborough Liberty Constabulary". Captain Henry Lambert Bayly, the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire, was appointed as the first Chief Constable of the Liberty of Peterborough in addition to his other responsibilities.

The new police force was responsible for twenty-four parishes, including Peterborough itself, and in addition the hamlets of Pilsgate, Southorpe, Woodcroft, Deeping Gate, Gunthorpe, Walton, Werrington, Dogsthorpe, Eastfield, Longthorpe, Newark and Ashton. The police area covered some 55,000 acres and there was a population of 26,000.

The Headquarters of the Liberty of Peterborough Constabulary was at the Gaol in Thorpe Road, Peterborough. A Police officer of the Liberty Force always lived on the premises from the earliest days and, in fact, an office was kept in the building by the Liberty Police until the formation of the combined Police Force in 1947.

The actual strength of the force varied during the years, but never seems quite to have reached the total number allowed. In 1868 there was a total of 18 men. The pay was then £7.10s per month for the Superintendent; £5.12.8d per month for the Sergeants and between £4.0.2d and £4.19.8d per month for the Constables.

Captain Bayly, the first Chief Constable, retired in 1876 and the new Chief Constable of Northamptonshire, Thomas Orde Hastings Lees took over the office at a salary of £50 per annum plus travelling expenses.

In those early days, indictable offences, which are now termed as crimes were known by the perhaps more descriptive name of 'outrages'. In their book of Regulations the Constables were enjoined to attend the scene of any outrage immediately and report the facts to their superior officers. The old Outrage Book shows that crime in the Liberty varied between about twenty and thirty outrages annually until as recently as the 1930s.

The Liberty of Peterborough Constabulary (1874-1947)

In 1874 the City of Peterborough was granted its Charter and a separate City Police Force was set up. At that time the Liberty Force, which covered the Soke with the exception of the City, was reduced to a total of 9 men, including the Chief Constable who was still shared with Northamptonshire. The city boundary was such that the villages of Longthorpe, Dogsthorpe, Werrington and Newark were still policed by the Liberty Force.

The Headquarters of the small force remained at the Gaol in Thorpe Road. In 1881 the new Chief Constable of Northamptonshire. J.D. Kellie McCallum, was also appointed Chief Constable of the Libery Force and retained that post until 1931. In 1931 the Chief Constable of the City of Peterborough Police, Mr. Thomas Danby, was appointed as Chief Constable for the Liberty Force. For all practical purposes, the headquarters of the Force moved to the premises occupied by the City Police in Milton Street. The Liberty Force, however, continued to occupy an office in the gaol buildings.

In 1931 the strength of the force was altered to include two sergeants and seven constables, with one additional constable. stationed at St. Martins and employed at the expense of the Marquis of Exeter.

The Peterborough City Police (1874-1947)

Following the grant of the Charter for the City of Peterborough, the Council was required to appoint a Watch Committee comprising one third of the elected members of the Council plus the Mayor. The committee met on 16th June 1874 and decided to appoint a Police Force for the City and Municipal Borough of Peterborough.

The strength of the Force was decided upon as one Chief Officer, who was to be known as the Head Constable, two Sergeants and twelve constables.

On 22nd July 1874, William Hurst was appointed as the Head Constable and Joseph Scotney and William Moyses as sergeants with six other men as constables.

However, the Home Secretary was not prepared to certify such a force as efficient in a city of 20,000 inhabitants and faced with the threat of the Central Government grant being withheld the Watch Committee raised the establishment of the force by a further sergeant and two constables.

The Headquarters of the new Force was established in a building in Milton Street, Peterborough. This building,originally erected as a residence, had been taken over in 1822 as the "Infirmary" and maintained from monies originally subscribed from the "Stock Fund" of the Volunteer Defence Corps when they were disbanded after the Napoleonic Wars. The "Infirmary" was moved to the buildings in Priestgate, which are now a museum, in 1856, and the Milton Street building was eventually taken over by the Corporation in 1874 for its new police force. The building was used both as a headquarters and as a residence for the Head Constable.

The main excitement in those early days of the City Force appeared to centre on Election time. At the Election of 1880, Special Constables were sworn in for duty and a contingent of men was borrowed from the Northamptonshire Constabulary. These men paraded the streets in sixes and little damage occurred. The 1885 Election posed more problems and there were scenes of great disorder and riot at at least one pre-Election meeting. The 1889 By-Election produced a more serious episode when at one time there were no less than sixteen lighted tar barrels being rolled around the streets in the centre of the town. Three Constables were guarding the end of Narrow Street, but after a very determined attempt the crowd managed to get one of the lighted barrels past them and it was heeled over on to the steps of the Angel Hotel where some of the occupants threw water on to the crowd. Eventually the barrel was smashed and lighted staves from it were thrown through the hotel windows.

At the 1895 Election there was serious trouble. A large crowd assembled on the Market Place. Many were armed with sticks and home-made truncheons and the inevitable tar barrels were again set rolling towards Narrow Street. The mood of the crowd caused the Chief Constable to call out twenty Reserve Police and eventually a force of 35 Constables made a baton charge upon the crowd in an attempt to clear them. The crowd retaliated by throwing all sorts of missiles and the Police again charged. It is reported that several people were severely trampled. Blood marks on the Market Place and broken windows in the vicinity the following morning revealed the severity of the disorders and some 900 people signed a memorial and presented it to the Watch Committee complaining of the brutality of the Police. A public enquiry was held and it was decided that there had been a determined attack on the Police on the night in question and that the Police had not charged before missiles were thrown at them or before the crowd had been warned by the Chief Constable to disperse.

The first Head Constable resigned in 1889 and he was replaced by Mr. John William Lawson. In 1909 he was succeeded by John Edward Ker Watson, who had been a Chief Inspector in the Police Force at Barrow-in-Furness.

By 1912 the authorised establishment of the Force had increased to a total of 39 men of all ranks. The population of the City had risen to 33,578 and 94 indictable crimes were reported to the Police in that year. 56 persons were proceeded against for indictable offences showing a satisfactory detection rate.

In 1913 the number of crimes rose to 116 but the following year they fell to 88 and no doubt the outbreak of war had some effect on these figures. 123 Special Constables were sworn in during the first year of the war, following riotous scenes outside a German Pork Butcher's premises and other shops early in August that year.

In 1942 the necessity for additional space had made it essential for the Chief Constable to move from the residence in Milton Street and the part of the building previously occupied by him was converted into offices. A year or so later additional cells had to be added to the rear of the building to accommodate female prisoners for whom previously there had been no separate accommodation. Two of the existing cells in the main building were declared by the Medical Officer of Health to be quite unfit for occupancy by human beings and, to accommodate stores and facilities required during the war, a building had to be erected in the yard between the main office and the street. A wooden hut was also erected in the small remaining space in the front yard to provide a place where the men could parade for their duties.

A few years later one officer had his legs slip through the floor of an upstairs store - fortunately without serious injury - and very shortly afterwards the one decent sized room in the building which was used as a C.I.D. office also had the floor give way under the weight of one of the burlier plain clothes men. The Building Inspector declared the room to be dangerous and unusable!

The Peterborough Combined Police Force (1947-1965)

The Peterborough Police (Amalgamation) Order of 1947 brought a combined Police Authority into being from 1st April that year and all personnel of the two Forces were transferred to the new Force which was to be known as the Peterborough Combined Police Force under the Chief Constable, Mr. F.G. Markin. The authorised strength of the Combined Force was 68 men and 8 women. By 1949 this establishment had been increased to 106 Policemen and 5 Policewomen.

In 1957 the Force was able to take a great step forward with the official opening of the new Headquarters on the site in Bridge Street, adjacent to the Embankment.

Mid-Anglia Constabulary (1965-1974)

In 1965, following the Police Act 1964, the Peterborough Combined Force amalgamated with the Police Forces covering Huntingdonshire, the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City to form the Mid-Anglia Constabulary. Mr. Frederick Drayton-Porter O.B.E., Q.P.M., formerly the Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City, was appointed as the Chief Constable of the new Force. The Peterborough Division was commanded by Chief Superintendent J.H. Maddocks, M.B.E., until he retired in 1973, and the present Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent K. Procter was appointed.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary (1974- )

Consequent upon local government re-organisation the Mid-Anglia Constabulary was re-named the Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1974.

In 1977 the Chief Constable, Mr. Frederick Drayton Porter, O.B.E., Q.P.M., retired and in July that year the present Chief Constable, Mr. Victor Gilbert, O.B.E., took office.

This page was last modified: 04 October 2025, 11:14

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